1 More Countdown

Welcome readers to my very last 1 More Countdown. As I’m sure you heard, 1 More Castle is closing its doors forever on July 31st.

Since 1 More Castle is closing, I’m very sad. I heard misery loves company, so I decided to countdown the saddest moments in gaming. I decided to exclude Aeris’ death from Final Fantasy because that’s too easy.

As always, only one game per franchise and only retro games count in this list. So grab your tissues and pint of ice cream, because we’re about to get sad.

Back in the early days of gaming it was quite difficult to find information about new upcoming games. The internet was just emerging, so you couldn’t look up everything and anything. Video games back then had to stand out.

Hey everyone, it’s great to be back. I was so busy with work that I had to postpone my lists here on this site. To show just how long it’s been I’ve kept the original opening to this blog. Enjoy!

It was just Mothers Day in the United States, and if you’re just finding this out now in my list, you’re a horrible child! In honor of the holiday I decided to count down the worst mothers in video games.

These are the mothers you give weeds instead of flowers, rotten cheese instead of chocolate, and a discount card from the dollar store. Like with all my lists there will be one character per franchise, and only retro games count!

Bruce Lee is known as one of the most influential martial artists who ever lived. He was a Hong Kong film actor and the founder of Jeet Kune Do. He was a legendary actor and martial artist who unfortunately passed away too soon.

His legacy lives on in several video game characters that resemble, act like, or fight like Bruce Lee. I decided to count down these characters inspired by Lee. Keep in mind that these are retro game characters inspired by Bruce Lee and not just video game versions of Bruce Lee.

So… I had a huge virus on my computer that destroyed all my pictures, files, documents, and so much more. Therefore, my planned list of the best explosives experts had to be delayed.

Instead I took a quick Twitter poll for suggestions for a quick list I could write in just one weekend. The winner was the top 10 retro remakes. These are the games that are remakes of old retro games. This might be breaking the “retro rule” of this site, but the line is blurry… so let’s do it anyway.

Also because there are SO many remakes/reboots I decided to only count platformers for this list.

You know what’s really fun? Redoing a list after getting about 75% done! That’s what happened to this list and that’s why it’s a week late. Honestly, I was about ready to give up and repost an old list from ScrewAttack, but I decided to redo it anyway.

Video games are some of the most creative forms of media out there. They’re so creative that sometimes they create their sports. Today I’m counting down the top 10 fictional sports from video games. These are sports that don’t exist in the real world, but instead on our consoles.

For this list I’m only focusing on sports! This list does not include vehicular games or game shows! Also this list was suggested by Chris Swartz for super duper fan appreciation month… or two months… or whatever.

As I mentioned last time on 1 More Countdown, January is fan appreciation month. All the lists I write during January will be suggested by YOU! The list this week was suggested by Bigjoe91 aka Jonathan Hallée. He suggested Top 10 Relationships… which I interpreted as romantic relationships… I hope that was his intention.

It doesn’t count because it’s a new game, but a HUGE honorable mention goes to “To the Moon” on Steam. Play it for a true romance story in a video game.

Hey 1 More Castle,
I regret to inform you that Andrew, Eric, and the rest of the bosses around here allowed me to return to blogging for the site. I’m sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you.

So let’s talk about winter! I hate winter, which is why I’m moving down south. I hate the cold, I hate ice, and I especially hate the snow. It just snowed massively a few days ago and I’m already sick of it. It’s weird because I do like snow/ice levels in video games. In fact they’re some of my favorite levels of all time.

Stay on the road, keep clear of the moors and beware the moon lads, because today we’re counting down the top 10 lycanthropes in video games. Lyncanthropes, more commonly known as werewolves, are humans who have the ability to transform into wolves or hybrid wolf-man creatures. We’re going to count all lyncanthropes in this list.

An often overlooked genre of video games is the cinematic platformer. There really aren’t that many of them out there, and even less people talking about them.

I’ll be talking about them in this list, but keep in mind one game per franchise and retro games only (PS2 era and prior). However, the featured image for this countdown is from Limbo a new-ish cinematic platformer, that everyone should check out.

Here on 1 More Countdown, I show a lot of love to retro consoles but I also remember spending a ton of time and quarters in the arcades of New York. Back then I played a ton of run ‘n gun games, a few racers, but mostly beat ’em ups. I wasn’t really into fighting games back then, and shooters bored me. However, beat ’em ups were the shit! They were always bright, colorful, and featured my favorite Saturday morning cartoon characters. I wasn’t the only one who loved these games because many of them were ported to our 8 and 16-bit consoles and even more are being ported to Xbox Live or PSN today.

I spent days trying to think of another video game list I could do, that’s related to summertime. I’ve already talked about my favorite beach levels, and everyone does water levels, so instead I decided to count down my favorite sharks in video games.

Sharks are evil mindless killing machines, and I love them. So I’m counting down my favorite sharks in retro video games. Also before you ask, the shark from Okami isn’t here because I still didn’t finish that game.

As I’m sure you’re all aware, last Friday was Independence Day or as the Internet has dubbed it, ‘Muricah Day! Many other list writers are celebrating by counting down the most Patriotic games, best video game fireworks, or most ‘Murican video game character (#1 is always Guile). However, I decided to use this holiday to honor those who really deserve it… politicians.

As you’re reading this, I’m relaxing on the beaches of Florida, and I’m probably being eaten alive by Floridian zombies high on bath salts. So… if I don’t survive, this might be my last 1 More Countdown. Let’s end this series on something I adore, beach levels in video games. (Unless, I am not eaten alive… then I’ll see you all in a fortnight.)

If you’re a genius like me, you notice patterns in retro video games. I personally noticed that there are a lot of octopusses… octopie… umm… cephalopods… in video games. So that got me thinking, what are the best octolopods in video games? Well I’ll tell you.

My very first list for 1 More Castle (Top 10 Castles in Video Games) was published on May 14th 2013. I wanted to do something special to honor my one year anniversary at the site. Instead of doing some self-indulgent list about my blogs, or something by myself I wanted to get as many 1 More Castle contributors involved as I could.

So what follows is several lists written by numerous 1 More Castle contributors. We are all going to be counting down our top five favorite retro video game songs.

Thanks for continuing to feature my blogs 1 More Castle and thanks to all the readers. Here’s hoping for another great year.

A show within a show is a common phrase used to describe when a story takes place within a larger story, think of Last Action Hero for example. Sometimes the smaller story is a parallel to the larger one, and sometimes it’s just a simple distraction. This is a common literary tool, but it’s also used in other forms of entertainment.

You’re probably reading the title of this list and wondering, what the hell is a failed floater? Well, I suppose I’ll tell you. Failed floaters are the video game characters that should really know how to swim (based on their species, other games, or dialogue), but just can’t. They drown, or get flung out of the water. These are the characters who ruin your suspension of disbelief.